CADILLAC — The Cadillac-Wexford Transit Authority is trying to keep up with demand after seeing record numbers of riders.
WexExpress said they are seeing quite the jump in numbers, pushing them to hire more drivers. They said that has them thinking outside the box in order to deal with the increase, without raising fares.
Executive director Carrie Thompson said hundreds more people per month, are using their door-to-door services.
“We’re up, about a thousand rides from where we have been in the past a month. We actually hit the highest record we’ve ever had for ridership in the transit’s history. So we had over 15,000 rides monthly,” Thompson said.
She credits the bump, in part, to new technology implemented in recent years, including a new app that makes it easy for people to book and cancel rides. It also gives notifications in real time.
“You can actually see the bus moving on the route towards you. And so it’s made it really easy for people. And so since then we’ve seen an increase in riders. And so we have about 3,000 people who downloaded that app that were not originally riders before the app,” Thompson said.
Operations Manager Terri Trowbridge said they are looking to hire about eight to ten more part-time drivers.
“We’ve hit that increase, right, that higher ridership where we start to see those wait times escalate a little bit. And that’s what we’re trying to appease that by getting more staff,” Trowbridge said.
Thompson said they also rolled out new dispatch software that streamlines routes. They also bought bigger buses to transport large groups, like taking students to after school activities. She said that frees up some of their other vehicles, by using federal grants
“We’ve been able to access some of those funds, and then move our medical trips over to our programs called New Freedom and Rides to Wellness, which created some space in our normal demand response service,” Thompson said.
Thompson said their funding is a mix of federal, state, and county money. The rest is made of from contracts from different groups
“Our number one goal is to keep our millage low or exactly the same. It’s been the last 20 years. And then, keep fares low,” said Thompson.